The present invention relates to a current collector for an amusement park bumper car where the current for the drive motor is taken from an overhead wire mesh and is returned to the floor which is composed of metal panels.
It is known from German Laid Open Document No. 1,208,667 how to use for collecting current, a sliding bow, made of steel wire and sliding during travel along the underside of the wire mesh. The contact area is extremely small since the sliding bow as a rule touches only one wire of the wire mesh. At this point of contact between these parts, because of unevenesses in the wire mesh and because of the brief separation of the sliding bow from the wire mesh, sparks will develop and cause the sliding bow to have a rough surface. Because of the increased friction, this rough surface of the sliding bow abrades the wire mesh so much that it is worn through in a relatively short time. In addition, the metal abrasion which drops from the wire mesh in small chips, frequently leads to eye injuries to users of the amusement park bumper car.
An improved current collector for bumper cars is known from the German Laid Open Document No. 1,262,850. For collecting the current from the wire mesh, it uses a collector wheel which has a wheel rim of hard copper and has a diameter so large that at least three mesh wires of the wire mesh simultaneously touch its circumference. To be sure, such a collector wheel touches the wire mesh simultaneously at several points, and through the softness of its wheel rim takes care that the individual wires of the wire mesh, under the pressure of the current collector wheel, dig into the wheel rim; in comparison to the known sliding bow, because of the change from sliding friction into rolling friction, the abrasion is reduced. But here is still a certain amount of abrasion whose particles may injure the eyes of the bumper car user and attending personnel. The collector wheel is freely rotatable and mounted on a long spring-loaded arm which is mounted freely rotatable in a vertical current collector tube attached to the bumper car. The use of this spring-supported long arm for mounting the wheel has an unfavorable effect since in case of collision of two cars the wheel slides sideways over the wire mesh, causing heavy spark formation and abrasion of the wire mesh. Also, it has been found through experience that the contact points achieved with the known collector wheel are not sufficient to avoid spark formation with adequate safety.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a current collector of the above type of simple construction, to ensure optimum contact between wire mesh and collector element with extensive prevention of spark formation, and to safely eliminate dropping of metal abrasion.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a current collector arrangement of the foregoing character which may be economically fabricated and readily maintained in service.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a current collector arrangement, as described, which has a substantially long operating life.